In the Forest, in the Woods
by arcaneambitions
Summary: Annabeth's car got stuck in a snowstorm, and she is lost. A mysterious stranger comes to her rescue. But what is he hiding? Post HoO. Rated T for future chapters.
1. Part 1- In the Snow

_Author's note: Seeing as this is my first fanfiction ever, I really don't have any experience. I would greatly appreciate it if you'd leave a **review **for me._

_Story is post HoO. _

_**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO/HoO or any of the characters.**_

It was 6:59pm when Annabeth's car got stuck in a snowstorm on her way to her parents' house. It was two days before Christmas, and she wanted to visit her dad, stepmom, and her almost grown up half brothers.. The white cotton balls had been falling for days now, but it was never this bad. Instead of being a blanket of crystallized frosting on the bare winter landscape, it felt more like a never-ending avalanche was coming down from the sky. Annabeth couldn't see anything through the windows of her green Smart. Her windshield wiper was going extremely fast, yet it was no match for the weather. Annabeth turned it off. At least her heater was working, so she wouldn't be freezing to death anytime soon. Probably. Then it stopped. Her car got still.

She cursed herself for being so unprepared. Yes, the East Coast weather had gotten completely unpredictable with all the global warming, but that was not an excuse. She should have been ready for this situation, any situation. She didn't have anything good to do, so she let her inner control freak take over. The daughter of Athena took inventory of all the useful or edible items in her car. The knife, of course. The ever-present knife. One banana, mostly brown. A red fleece blanket she immediately wrapped around herself. Her cell phone, 2% charge left. Gloves, much too big for her. She put them on anyways. Her backpack was lying on the passenger seat, some crumbled-up ambrosia, and nectar in a canteen inside. It also contained a book she was reading at the moment, _Little Women_. She could always throw it at an attacking monster, but she had grown rather fond of it. Annabeth scrounged around the bottom of her car and found a dried half of a bagel. _Yum. _She turned on the radio, but the storm was apparently posing trouble for it. No reception here. Where, exactly, was here? She knew there was a forest on the left side of the street, but that was it. Annabeth had no idea. No map in the car, phone dead, no GPS. Not as wise as expected of her. Annabeth could practically hear her mother sighing at her unpreparedness, up on Mount Olympus. _Help me, please_, Annabeth prayed, to her mom, to the gods, any god that might be near. No answer, of course not. The gods hadn't answered her in who knew how long. _Next time, prepare for anything. You've learned this lesson. Now learn from your mistakes_, she scolded herself mentally.

Suddenly, there was a knock on her window, its sound muffled by the thick coat of snow. Then, the frosty substance was messily wiped off her windshield by a large hand, wearing a black glove just like the ones she had on. The person, presumably a man, cleared off her window as well, waved a little hesitantly, and motioned for her to open the door. The guy's face was covered by a matching black scarf, and all of his hair was hidden under a thick blue hat. She couldn't see much of him, but he didn't really look like a monster. Or a rapist, for that matter. _Tyche, _she begged internally, _please just help me out. It has been enough. Make him be good. I deserve a little good. _She felt a little better after, and thought strategically about the situation. It seemed less dangerous to just see what the guy wanted. So Annabeth did the only logical thing- she opened the door, letting thousands of big snowflakes float into her car.

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Reviews greatly appreciated!

_BTW, I know that Annabeht's family is supposed to live in California where it doesn't snow, but in my mind they eventually move to the East Coast. Creative freedom?_

Thanks for reading.


	2. Part 2- In the Trees

_First fanfic, noooo experience. Please **review**?_

_Story is post HoO_

**_Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own PJO/HoO or any of the characters._**

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He looked surprised for a second, but regained his composure quickly. "Get out. My house is a few minutes from here," the man said. The only thing she could see of him were his eyes. It shocked her that he had eyes like Percy, green as the sea. But Percy's eyes always sparkled, full of life, and this man's eyes were dull, as if someone had painted a translucent layer of grey on them. His voice was dulled by the scarf over his mouth, but somehow it sounded familiar. Annabeth shivered. She zipped up her jacket and pulled the blanket tighter around her body and turned around, surprised that she could only faintly make out the man's shape up ahead. "Wait up!" she yelled, but her words were swept away from her mouth by the tornado-like wind. The snow was up to her knees, so although she was trying to run after him, Annabeth didn't make much progress. She didn't even notice that she had entered the forest until she looked up and saw white-covered trees standing all around her. Annabeth reached mystery man eventually, panting hard. Her throat was so cold. She coughed, frozen vapor floating into her mouth.

They walked for half an hour, maybe. They hadn't gone far,Annabeth guessed that on a normal day, they could have completed the traverse in five minutes, tops. Annabeth always stayed one or two steps behind the mystery guys, keeping close enough that she could see him clearly, but no so close that she wouldn't be able to run or attack him if necessary. He didn't seem like a monster, but who knew? Better safe than sorry. Annabeth could feel her knife against her leg. She was ready for anything, anytime. Usually.

After Tartarus, Annabeth and Percy had both suffered from PTSD. Life was better, and they had felt helpless, hopeless. They made it out, but Tartarus was still inside them, in their mind, creeping into their thoughts when they were already feeling weak. Percy almost never slept, the rings under his eyes becoming blacker than Nico's. Annabeth would wake up in the middle of the night, her nightmares following her into the conscious state, spawned by the horrible memories that would forever stay in her brain. Annabeth had always valued her exceptional memory, but she started to hate it.

She would cry in the dark, the tears leaving wet trails down her cheeks, leading to small puddles on the pillow beneath her head. She would cling to the only person who knew what she had gone through, was going through. She was always with Percy then. He was affected too, but Annabeth felt like she had it worse. There was a voice in her mind she could not drain out, going, "If you had only done this, if you had done that, it would have been better. They would still be here. You made this situation happen. You could have been stronger. But you weren't, you didn't, you wouldn't." Annabeth had turned bitter, angry, isolated herself from the rest of the world except Percy. Until she realized that it wasn't just her brain. It was him, too- he was a constant flashback, he reminded her too much of everything that had happened. She needed to get away from him, from him and the memories.

So one day she packed her bags at 2am, crying silently of relief but also remorse over something she hadn't even done yet. She left Percy. And she hadn't seen him since that day.

She lived with Reyna for a while, visited her family often, hoping to get better. And she did, eventually. She moved again when Reyna got married, settling in another apartment in New Rome, but it just wasn't the same. Bad at first, nightmares, nights spent with the lights burning brightly until the sun went up. But she was strong, and she fought through it, got used to living alone at some point. So she went to college, became an architect, started working, dating. The fear and memories stayed, but they stayed suppressed. Flashbacks and nightmares became seldom occurrences. She swore to herself that she would be prepared for a fight, always. Annabeth never went anywhere without her knife. She didn't look at it anymore, but kept it with her all this time.

Eventually, they got to the stranger's house, standing in a clearing in the forest. The house was more of a wooden cabin. It was withered, and snow was piled on the roof, seemingly trying to reach the sky. There was a small shed nearby, and a cat next to it, a rusty blue truck. The man, whom Annabeth had dubbed Sam, walked to the door of his cabin, waving Annabeth forward. _Okay then. Got the knife. Ambrosia and nectar in the backpack. I'm good, I'm alright, I'm okay, _she said to herself. So she walked over to him.

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Reviews greatly appreciated!

_Sorry it took so long to get this up. Part three will come next week :) _

Thanks for reading.


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